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Summary: Many environmental and hydrological applications require knowledge about soil moisture. Its measurement accuracy is known to depend on the sensor technique, which is sensitive to soil characteristics such as texture, temperature, bulk density and salinity. However, the calibration functions provided by instrument manufacturers are generally developed under laboratory conditions, and their accuracy for field applications is rarely investigated, in particular over long time periods and in comparison with other sensors types. In this paper, four side-by-side profile soil moisture measurements down to 110cm using three low-cost sensors and one high-accuracy and high-cost time domain reflectometry (TDR) sensor are compared over a 2-year period at a clay loam site in Switzerland. The low-cost instruments include the (1) 10HS (Decagon Devices, United States), (2) CS616 (Campbell Scientific, United States), and (3) SISOMOP (SMG University of Karlsruhe, Germany) sensors, which are evaluated against the (4) TDR-based TRIME-IT/-EZ (IMKO GmbH, Germany) sensors. For the comparison, the calibration functions provided by the manufacturers are applied for each sensor type. The sensors are evaluated based on daily data regarding their representation of the volumetric water content (VWC) and its anomalies, as well as the respective temperature dependency of the measurements. Furthermore, for each sensor type the actual evapotranspiration is estimated using the soil water balance approach and compared with measurements from a weighing lysimeter. It is shown that the root mean square difference (RMSD) of VWC for the low-cost sensors compared to the TDR measurements are up to 0.3m3/m3, with highest values in near-surface layers. However, the RMSD for the VWC anomalies are lower compared to those for absolute values. We conclude that under the studied conditions none of the evaluated low-cost sensors has a level of performance consistent with the respective manufacturer specifications. Hence the derivation of site-specific calibration functions is vital for the interpretation of measurements with low-cost soil moisture sensors. Furthermore, some weaknesses of the tested low-cost sensors such as the lack of sensitivity in certain soil moisture regimes or spurious dependency on soil temperature, imply intrinsic issues with the measurements derived with this type of instruments. This is particularly critical for a number of environmental and hydrological applications, including the assessment of remote sensing measurements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The European Alps are one region of the world where climate-driven changes are already perceptible, as exemplified by the general retreat of mountain glaciers over past decades. Temperatures have risen by up to 2°C since 1900 particularly at high elevations, a rate that is roughly three times the global-average 20th century warming. Regional climate models suggest that by 2100, winters in Switzerland may warm by 3–5°C and summers by 6–7°C according to greenhouse-gas emissions scenarios, while precipitation is projected to increase in winter and sharply decrease in summer. The impacts of these levels of climatic change will affect both the natural environment and a number of economic activities. Alpine glaciers may lose between 50% and 90% of their current volume and the average snowline will rise by 150m for each degree of warming. Hydrological systems will respond in quantity and seasonality to changing precipitation patterns and to the timing of snow-melt in the Alps, with a greater risk of flooding during the spring and droughts in summer and fall. The direct and indirect impacts of a warming climate will affect key economic sectors such as tourism, hydropower, agriculture and the insurance industry that will be confronted to more frequent natural disasters. This paper will thus provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on climatic change and its impacts on the Alpine world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents a comparative study on the mapping of temperature and precipitation fields in complex Alpine terrain. Its relevance hinges on the major impact that inadequate interpolations of meteorological forcings bear on the accuracy of hydrologic predictions regardless of the specifics of the models, particularly during flood events. Three flood events measured in the Swiss Alps are analyzed in detail to determine the interpolation methods which best capture the distribution of intense, orographically-induced precipitation. The interpolation techniques comparatively examined include: Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Ordinary Kriging (OK), and Kriging with External Drift (KED). Geostatistical methods rely on a robust anisotropic variogram for the definition of the spatial rainfall structure. Results indicate that IDW tends to significantly underestimate rainfall volumes whereas OK and KED methods capture spatial patterns and rainfall volumes induced by storm advection. Using numerical weather forecasts and elevation data as covariates for precipitation, we provide evidence for KED to outperform the other methods. Most significantly, the use of elevation as auxiliary information in KED of temperatures demonstrates minimal errors in estimated instantaneous rainfall volumes and provides instantaneous lapse rates which better capture snow/rainfall partitioning. Incorporation of the temperature and precipitation input fields into a hydrological model used for operational management was found to provide vastly improved outputs with respect to measured discharge volumes and flood peaks, with notable implications for flood modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents a combined downscaling and disaggregation weather generator developed for multisite generation of hourly precipitation and temperature time series over complex terrain. Daily regional weather variables are first generated from Generalized Linear Models based on daily atmospheric circulation indices from NCEP reanalysis. They are then disaggregated to the required spatial and temporal scales using a K-nearest neighbour approach. The weather generator is applied to the Upper Rhone River basin in the Swiss Alps. It successfully reproduces standard statistics for temperature as well as total and liquid precipitation at the temporal and spatial resolutions required for hydrological modelling of the system (3h, 100km2) and at lower resolutions down to those relevant at the river basin scale (3days, ∼5500km2). In addition, it reproduces the monthly distributions of the 1°C isotherm elevation and of maximum precipitation amounts while preserving the spatial heterogeneity of weather variables and their spatial and temporal correlations. The weather generator can also be used to produce weather scenarios for the studied basin in a future climate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: With the aim of calibrating a large number of catchments for a semi-distributed, process-based conceptual hydrological model, we introduce a straightforward yet robust automatic calibration procedure. Since identification of a global parameter optimum is not feasible in practical terms, the procedure presents a trade-off between computational time and algorithm complexity to identify, with reasonable effort, a parameter set that is well representative of the catchment’s dynamics. In its standard mode, the calibration combines three efficiency scores which are evaluated both for the entire calibration period and in terms of their annual and monthly variations. These scores are furthermore assessed only in their relevant value range, producing a comprehensive overall acceptability score which is used to guide an iterative parameter search algorithm. An additional set of four flood-sensitive scores is added, thereby improving results in the peak-flow range. Calibration was done for 140 mesoscale (roughly 10–1000km2) catchments in Switzerland, using the hydrological modelling system PREVAH (Precipitation–Runoff-EVApotranspiration-HRU related model) in hourly time steps. For 49 representative catchments with long gauge records, a median Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.75 was achieved for the calibration period in standard mode. The limited loss in efficiency when moving to the validation period (median NSE: 0.72) proves the stability and representativity of the parameter sets identified, while a Monte-Carlo analysis underscores the effectiveness of our procedure. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiencies for the additional flood calibration are slightly lower, but again almost equally high for the calibration (0.69) and the validation (0.67) period. Despite the concessions made to improve peak-flow results, the simulation’s hydrological plausibility was not compromised. The ultimate goal of our study is flood estimation in ungauged Swiss catchments through continuous simulation using PREVAH. With the extensive calibration task presented in this article, the foundation is laid for regionalisation of the tuneable model parameters, which will be addressed in the companion paper (), along with detailed flood estimation results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mountains cover roughly one quarter of the planet''s surface. Known as the Earth''s water towers they produce a surplus of water that is transported to neighbouring lowlands via the vast river systems. Water as a vital benefit for life also holds dangers as a destructive element in the form of floods.The present paper, aims to discuss the basic aspects of floods in mountain areas and to illustrate them with examples of case studies, mainly from Switzerland. The hydrological characteristics of mountainous areas are described; the particular processes of flood generation in mountain areas, which should be taken into account. The last section is devoted to methods for estimating floods in ungauged catchments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Conceptual schema illustrating the buffering role of groundwater during future summer low-flow periods in an alpine catchment. It shows the evolution of monthly mean recharge, snow water equivalent and discharge in the reference and the future period 2085 for a scenario RCP 8.5 with a strong increase in temperatures and decrease in summer precipitations. • Quaternary deposits play a critical role in seasonally storing alpine groundwater. • In future summer, the decrease in alpine discharge depends on groundwater storage. • The actual winter low flow appears as a lower bound for the future summer low flow. Alpine environments are particularly vulnerable to climatic warming, and long term observations suggest a shift of snow-influenced river discharge towards earlier periods of the year. For water resources management, the seasonal patterns of discharge in alpine areas are particularly relevant, as the shift to lower flows in summer and autumn combined with increased water demand could lead to water shortage in downstream catchments. The storage of groundwater in alpine catchments could significantly modulate how changing climatic conditions influence the annual streamflow regime. However, groundwater storage and its buffering capacity in alpine areas remain poorly understood. Moreover, studies on how climate change will impact water resources in alpine areas rarely consider the influence of geology. In this paper, catchment geology is used as a basis for the classification of future summer low flows behavior of several alpine catchments in Switzerland. Based on the analysis of the relationship between low-flow indicators and geology, the role of unconsolidated quaternary deposits is explored. We show that quaternary deposits play a critical role in the seasonal storage of groundwater, which can contribute to rivers during low-flow periods. Three climate change simulations based on extreme RCP 8.5 scenarios are fed into a conceptual hydrological model to illustrate the buffering role of groundwater. Past and future low flows normalized by mean past and future streamflows appear correlated with the percentage of unconsolidated quaternary deposits. These results highlight that catchments with high groundwater contribution to streamflow relative to precipitation will have a slower decrease in future summer discharge. Therefore, we propose two indicators that can be used to anticipate the response of future summers low flows in alpine areas to climate change: the current winter low flows and the percentage of unconsolidated quaternary deposits of the catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]